Choices
by MissPerfectPrefect
Summary: She never hated him, not really. At least that's what she was beginning to realize. "My name. It's James. Not Potter. If we're going to be friends, don't you think that we should address one another as such, Lily?" he said as his face formed a grin. "Don't make me regret this, James," she said as she opened the door and walked out.
1. Chapter One

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, anything and anyone you recognize belongs to the wonderful JKR.**

_**Enjoy!**_

Lily Evans could hardly contain her enthusiasm as she stepped out of the car in front of the Kings Cross Station with her family. She smiled widely as she thought about finally returning to Hogwarts after her grueling summer holiday.

"I can't believe you're leaving for school already! I feel like you've only just arrived," Lily's mother, Rose, lamented. Lily fought the urge to roll her eyes and gave her mum a small smile.

"She'll be home at Christmas before you know it!" exclaimed Lily's father, William. Lily smiled gratefully at her dad and helped him unload her rather heavy trunk.

As they made their way into the station, Lily's older sister, Petunia, was careful not to walk too closely to Lily, for fear of someone spotting her. Usually Petunia opted to simply wait in the car, but seeing as she was engaged and needed her parents to fund the wedding, walking to the barrier was a sacrifice she knew she had to make.

Platforms 9 and 10 were now within sight and Lily noticed a familiar head of ridiculously untidy black hair. Lily groaned, hoping he would head onto the platform before he noticed her arrival. Their last interaction was after the Defense O.W.L. the previous term and it was not a pleasant encounter to say the least. She slowed her pace as she got closer; hoping to buy more time, but all it did was cause her mother to walk straight into her.

"Lily! Goodness, what on earth did you slow down for?" her mother asked rather loudly. Lily tried to shush her mother but it was futile, the boy with the untidy black hair had already spotted her and was making his way over.

"Evans! Fancy seeing you here on this lovely day!" said the boy cheerfully. Gritting her teeth she said disdainfully, "Sod off Potter."

"Lily Marie Evans! That is no way to speak to your friend! Now be polite and introduce us!" scolded Mrs. Evans. Narrowing her eyes at James she said, "Mum, Dad, Petunia, this is James Potter. Potter, these are my parents and sister." She huffed. "Don't you have someone else to harass?" Her last remark was ignored as James stepped forward with his hand outstretched. He took hold of Mrs. Evans' hand and kissed it and gave her his trademark grin that made all the girls swoon. "I see where Lily gets her good looks from," he said charmingly. Mrs. Evans giggled and blushed like a teenage girl. Lily couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes. Even her own mother fell for his act.

Mr. Evans was not so easily swayed, when James shook his hand it looked like Mr. Evans was trying to break the boy's hand. Lily chuckled to herself; at least her dad was just as immune to the Potter charm as she tried to be. Still eyeing James suspiciously, Mr. Evans released James' hand.

James turned to Petunia and stuck out his hand. Petunia's eyes widened and then she curled her lip in disgust and turned away. Looking a bit confused, James retracted his hand and turned back to the rest of the Evans family.

"It is so lovely to meet you dear; Lily has told us all about you!" Mrs. Evans said happily.

"She has, has she?" James turned his gaze to Lily who was trying to hide her blushing cheeks.

"Yes, she's told us all about you and your friends—"Mrs. Evans began. Lily quickly interrupted, "Mum, the train will be leaving soon, I think its best we say goodbye now."

"Alright, alright. I wasn't trying to embarrass you sweetheart! But if you must go I suppose it's alright," Mrs. Evans conceded. Lily hugged her mother and father and waved to Petunia, who had suddenly become very interested in the wall behind her.

Lily grabbed her trolley and made her way over to the barrier. She braced herself as she prepared to run. She had run through the seemingly solid wall five times now, but the Muggle side of her would never be able to get used to the idea of running full speed at a brick wall.

She made it through the platform just as someone shouted, "What in Merlin's name took you so long!"

Looking up from her trolley, Lily saw a somewhat elderly couple in rather expensive looking robes. The couple looked just as surprised to see her as she did when she was shouted at. Confused, Lily said, "Erm...I'm sorry?"

"Merlin dear, I'm sorry; I thought you were going to be my son, James. He was supposed to be right behind us. I told him we could have just Apparated right onto the platform but he insisted on coming the muggle way just to see a girl that—"the older woman was interrupted just as James came barreling through the platform and straight into Lily.

They landed with a _thud_ onto the ground. "Oof! Potter! Get off of me right now!" Lily demanded. James took his time standing up and Lily couldn't help but notice how the muscles of his arm bulged through his t-shirt. Luckily, James didn't notice her staring and as soon as he was off of her she jumped up, ignoring his outstretched hand.

"Evans, you know if you wanted me on top of you, you only had to ask. I would have been more than happy to oblige you know, no need to risk injury for it," teased James, sporting his lopsided grin.

"The only one risking injury here Potter, is you. Now, let me get my things and be on my way," Lily said trying to sound civil, so she wouldn't end up embarrassing herself. She took a step toward her trunk and James stepped in front of it, blocking her from grabbing it. He was staring straight at her and Lily made the mistake of making eye contact.

Although James' glasses usually hid his eyes, standing this close Lily could see that they weren't brown like she always assumed. They were most definitely hazel with specks of gold and green swirled throughout. She noticed that his lips were moving slowly closer to her, and surprisingly she had no intentions of objecting. She felt herself losing focus as James suddenly stopped moving and said huskily, "Have a good summer, Evans?" Hearing his voice snapped her out of her trance. Just as she was about to yell at him to move she heard someone clear their throat from a few feet away. She looked towards the noise and saw that the couple that had shouted at her had been watching the entire exchange.

"So are you going to introduce us to your, uh, _friend_, James?" the man whom she now assumed to be James' father said. Lily realized how close she was to James and quickly stepped backwards. James seemed unfazed and said, "Mum, Dad, this is Lily Evans, she's also in Gryffindor."

"Lovely to meet you, Lily," Mrs. Potter said as she stepped forward to give Lily a hug, which Lily tentatively returned. An awkward silence befell the group.

"Well, I must be going. I'm a Prefect and can't be late to the meeting. It was a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Potter, and you as well Mr. Potter," Lily said quickly as she grabbed her trolley. Surprisingly James didn't make any impolite comments or suggestive remarks. Lily figured it must be because his parents were so near. She couldn't believe that she had thought about kissing him, James Potter, of all people. He was nothing more than an arrogant prat. Right?

She quickly made her way onto the train in search of a compartment. She passed by her usual compartment and saw that Severus was already sitting in there. She paused for a second, contemplating joining him, but decided against it. He needed to learn that he couldn't pick and choose anymore. It was either his so called friends, or it was her. He made his choice clear when he called her a Mudblood in front of everyone when she was only trying to help him.

Walking past all the compartments and not seeing anyone she wanted to sit with, she began to feel discouraged. She reached the back of the train and saw Alice Fortesque and Marlene McKinnon laughing together. Lily opened the compartment door and the two girls looked over at her.

"Mind if I join you?" Lily asked tentatively. Alice and Marlene had been her roommates since first year, and they had always been polite about her friendship with Severus. They even hung out occasionally throughout the years, although after her and Severus' fallout last year, the girls had become much closer.

"Of course you can sit with us," Alice said giving Lily a warm smile. Lily sighed with relief and loaded her trunk into the compartment and sat down. The two girls continued their conversation from before Lily interrupted, they were laughing about some party Alice's parents threw. Apparently Frank Longbottom's mum showed up with a stuffed vulture on her hat. Lily giggled at the thought. Although she had never met Frank's mother, she could only imagine how ridiculous a stuffed vulture hat would look on anyone.

"So, Lily, anything interesting happen to you over the summer?" Marlene asked, taking a big bite out of a squirming Chocolate Frog. Lily scrunched her nose; she could never really wrap her mind around how anyone could eat something that squirmed around so much when they bit into it.

"Not particularly, I usually hang out with Sev but—"Lily trailed off, getting a little sad at the thought of them not being friends anymore.

"I always knew he was a slimy git," Marlene said without skipping a beat. Alice nodded in agreement, her blue eyes looking at Lily sympathetically. Lily was unsure of how to respond to this comment. She was so used to defending Severus, it was new to her that that was no longer her responsibility. Luckily the compartment door opened, and Remus Lupin stood smiling at them.

"Hey, Lily, the Prefect meeting is about to start, care to walk there with me?" Remus asked.

"Oh bollocks, I almost forgot about that!" Lily said jumping out of her seat, "I'll see you guys in a little while! I'm always later to these bloody pointless things." Her and Remus said goodbye to a chuckling Alice and Marlene and shut the door.

As they walked down the aisle of the train, Lily noticed that Remus looked more tired than usual; she figured there must have been a full moon recently. Although she would never tell Remus that she knew about his lycanthropy, she still felt bad that someone as nice as him had to go through something so painful.

"Do I have something on my face?" Remus questioned as he noticed Lily looking at him oddly. Lily diverted her gaze, blushing slightly. "No, sorry, I just got caught up in my thoughts. I've had a rough summer."

Remus nodded knowingly. "Things with Snape never worked out I presume?" Even though Remus despised Snape, he knew that he had been Lily's best friend. He couldn't imagine being slurred in front of everyone by James, Sirius, or Peter.

Lily shook her head. "No…it's for the best I think. I don't know if I can ever think of him the same way again. I wish he wasn't a Prefect though."

"Well, just be glad he's not a Gryffindor prefect, otherwise you would have to patrol with him in addition to seeing him at meetings," Remus laughed.

"If that were the case then the silence that would ensue during patrols would make me go crazy. I much prefer our happy go lucky patrols," Lily responded while smiling at her fellow Gryffindor. Remus draped his arm over Lily's shoulder in a friendly way and said, "Well, of course you prefer our patrols, who else can you talk to about Muggle literature and vent to about James Potter?"

Lily smiled and looked to her left; she saw that the compartment had Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter in it. James was looking straight at Remus' arm over her shoulder, his brow furrowed at the sight. Lily didn't know why James would care though, considering the way they left things last year.

Attending Prefect meetings, at least to Lily, is the most boring time of her life. She doodled on a piece of parchment that the Head Girl, Amelia Bones, had given her to "take notes" on. They had already been here for over twenty minutes and had yet to get their rounds schedules. Instead, Amelia insisted on going over every item on the banned list that they are supposed to confiscate if seen. Around the M's Lily began to draw a picture of a bludger hitting the Head Girl in the head. When she finished she realized that the talking around her had stopped. She looked up and saw everyone looking at her. "Did I miss something?" Lily asked Amelia, who looked positively furious.

"Am I _boring_ you Lily?" sneered Amelia. The rest of the compartment looked from the Head Girl, to Lily, not sure who to be more afraid of.

"Not at all, Amelia. I'm simply taking notes like you asked," Lily replied sweetly. Amelia walked over to Lily and snatched the parchment off of the table. Lily cringed. Even though Amelia annoyed her, she knew that her drawing wouldn't be appreciated and she sort of felt guilty about not listening. She was never usually disrespectful, but why on earth did she have to drag out these bloody meetings for?

Amelia looked at the small moving doodle and she shot her head up at Lily as she crumbled the parchment. "This meeting is over! Everyone OUT!" Amelia yelled. The other prefects gathered their things quickly, just in case Amelia decided to change her mind. Severus, who had been looking at Lily the entire time, remained still.

Remus noticed Snape looking at Lily, "Got a problem, Snivellus?" Snape turned his gaze to Remus and glared at him with his fists clenching. Snape stood up and addressed Lily. "You shouldn't be hanging out with an _animal_ like this, Lily."

"Severus, who I hang around is no longer any of your concern. And I would appreciate it if you didn't refer to my friend in that way. Unlike you, I don't go around insulting my friends," Lily spat towards her former friend. With one last glare towards Remus, Snape swept out of the compartment and Lily noticeably relaxed. She had never really been able to stand up to Severus when they were friends and doing so now was definitely unfamiliar territory.

"Thank you, Lily. You didn't have to say any of that you know," Remus commented. Lily stopped staring at the place where Severus had been standing and turned to her friend, looking at him sympathetically. She knew that Remus believed himself to be lesser of a person because of his condition, but Lily knew better. She knew that Remus was one of the few genuine and loyal people in the world and he would have done the same for any of his friends.

She smiled, "Don't worry about it. See you later then?" Remus nodded at Lily and she left the compartment.

"So, something going on between you and Evans, Moony?" James asked trying to sound casual. The other three boys in the compartment rolled their eyes.

"Maybe, maybe not," Remus said tauntingly, smirking at Sirius and Peter. Everyone knew how James felt about Lily, well except James that is. James' head shot up with Remus' "admission".

"What the bloody hell do you mean by that!" James practically shouted. Remus kept a serious face and shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"Well I'll be a thestral's uncle, is my ickle Prongsie jealous of our furry friend here?" Sirius said to his best friend. James turned his attention away from Remus and glared at Sirius.

"Of course I'm not jealous. I just think that Remus should be more direct with his answers," James said very unconvincingly. "I also think that it would be a bad idea because of Prefect duties, what if you two break up? Then what? You two would never be able to patrol together again! Then the castle would fall-"

Remus could see that his friend was getting flustered so he interrupted, "James, there is nothing going on nor will there be anything going on in the future between me and Lily. You know very well that she is simply a friend and that I don't date."

James seemed relieved at this statement, "Well good." He then continued, "Oh bloody hell, I didn't mean good about you not dating, because you should date, as a matter of fact I don't know why you don't."

"Yeah Moony, there are plenty of girls at Hogwarts that are interested, not as many as I have of course, but you definitely have a good portion of them, they think you're _mysterious_ " Sirius said wiggling his eyebrows. Peter nodded as well, they all wanted Remus to find someone and be happy, but they all knew they were fighting a losing battle.

"You bloody well know why I can't pursue them. What if they found out about my "furry little problem" as you so eloquently call it? Or what if it does work out and we get married and then I get loose one night and kill her? Or worse, what if I turn her? No. It's out of the question. I cannot and will not get involved with anyone." Remus responded irritably. His friends had his best interests at heart, but they just couldn't understand the gravity of the situation. Not wanting to dwell on himself any longer, he says, "I saw Snape at the prefect meeting, looks like Lily still hasn't forgiven him for what happened last year."

"Good riddance. Evans didn't need to be hanging around with old Snivelly anyways. Might slip on all the grease that drips off of him," Sirius snarled. No one, except maybe James, hated it more than Sirius did when the "m" word was used against anyone. "I can't believe they were even friends to begin with, what in Merlin's name did she see in him?"

"It's not like they were dating, from what I've seen they were just friends. And not by choice on his part, that's for sure," Peter pointed out. Although Peter may not be as handsome or as talented as his friends, he definitely had his uses. He easily could blend into the background and see and hear things that most people didn't want known. "I used to see them around, she was completely oblivious to his feelings too."

"So, speaking of, is our welcome back prank good to go?" Sirius said grinning. The Welcome Back Feast prank was always one of the most memorable of the year for the Marauders.

"How is that related to anything we were just talking about?" Remus questioned. Sirius simply shrugged. "It isn't. I was just tired of talking about slimy Slytherins."

The rest of the train ride for the boys consisted of ironing out small details in order for their prank to be executed flawlessly.

Lily sat in the compartment with her friends in silence for most of the train ride. She couldn't stop thinking about Sev. She may not have been paying attention to the meeting, but she knew that he had been staring at her for most of it. It took all of her will power not to look up at him, the boy who was her rock for so many years; the boy who had told her she wasn't a freak. The boy who told her being muggle-born didn't matter, the boy who called her a mudblood and chose the dark arts over her. Lily couldn't understand how those two boys could be the same person. Feeling the tears begin to well up in her eyes, she blinked rapidly and turned to face her friends who had been discussing their plans for the first Hogsmeade trip, which was scheduled for three weeks from today.

"I wouldn't mind going with Black…he's so handsome. Sirius, I mean, not Regulus. Although he's pretty handsome, too. If only he wasn't a Slytherin," Marlene sighed, looking rather disappointed.

"Why does him being a Slytherin matter?" Lily asked curiously, she never understood why the different houses held such grudges against one another sometimes. Marlene, Alice, and Mary all gave her incredulous looks.

"You're joking right?" Marlene asked looking somewhat confused. "All Slytherins are prejudiced idiots, I wish we could just be rid of the lot of them."

"You know not all Slytherins are bad, just like not all Ravenclaws are bookworms," Lily pointed out, "Also, not all Gryffindors are chivalrous or brave. People are more than what meets the eye you know."

Marlene rolled her eyes. "Leave it to Lily to make being a Slytherin sound okay."

Mary and Alice giggled. "As much as I hate to say anything positive about those slime balls, Lily does have a point," Alice said nodding towards Lily. Lily then smiled smugly at Marlene, who in turn stuck her tongue out at the red head.

"Well, you lot can continue debating the ethical-ness of Slytherins, I'm going to get changed and go visit my non-bookworm Ravenclaw boyfriend," Mary said standing up to get her robes. Mary had begun Grayson Newcomb during the summer and all of the subsequent letters sent to the other girls were full of stories about him.

"Traitor!" Marlene yelled with a smile as Mary exited the compartment. "Oh shut it McKinnon!" Mary laughed and closed the door.

"We should probably be getting our robes on now too, it shouldn't be too much longer until we arrive," Alice said, pulling out her uniform.

Alice was right, just as the girls had gotten their uniforms on, the train had already begun to slow down. Before the train came to a complete stop, Alice left to go find her 7th year boyfriend, Frank Longbottom and Marlene went to go find the Quidditch captain, Sam Wood, to find out about tryouts. The girl was crazy when it came to Quidditch. This left Lily completely alone on the platform. She made her way to the carriages along with all the other non-first year students. She began looking for an empty carriage when someone tapped on her shoulder. She turned around quickly, startled by the touch, and saw familiar dark hair and eyes.

Gaining composure, she said curtly, "Severus." She thought she saw a hint of hurt in his almost black eyes, but it was gone as soon as it had appeared. She made to walk past him, but he grabbed her arm before she got too far.

"Severus, let go, I have nothing to say to you," Lily said, trying not to show the pain he was causing by holding her arm so tightly. She always had problems controlling her emotions when it came to Snape, but she was damn well not going to give him the satisfaction of getting to her now. His grip tightened momentarily, causing Lily to wince slightly.

"When are you going to forgive me? It's been months! Why are you doing this?" Severus pleaded. For a moment, Lily remembered the scared nine year old boy hiding from his father, but that moment vanished once Mulciber and Avery came into view.

"Having a little fun with the mudblood are we Snape?" Avery sneered, looking at Lily as if she was covered in dung. Snape looked from Lily to his "friends" and broke his grip on her arm, pushing her away from him in the process. Lily immediately put her hand on her wand. After what happened to Mary last year, she wasn't taking any chances. Snape's eyes narrowed and he moved closer to the Slytherins. "She's not bad looking Severus, maybe we could take turns before we throw her to the garbage where she belongs," Mulciber said reaching for his wand. Lily had her wand out and to his throat before he moved another inch, it was then that she noticed another wand right next to hers.

Mulciber smirked, "Aw, is the blood traitor going to save his precious mudblood?" Lily turned her head slightly and saw Sirius Black looking murderous right next to her. Avery and Snape both had pulled their wands at this point as well, pointing them at Lily and Sirius.

"I'd rather be a blood traitor than a Death Eater," said Sirius venomously, "I suggest you slither back to the hole you came out of before you get yourself hurt." A staring contest seemed to ensue afterwards, none of them willing to give in to the other side. As good of a dueller and witch as Lily was, she was still grateful for Sirius being next to her, she felt much more menacing than she would have alone.

"Is everythin' alright o'er here?" came the booming voice of Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper. The five teenagers lowered their wands slowly, and Snape swept away without answering, Mulciber and Avery following wearing similar furious facial expressions.

Lily let out a breath that she didn't realize she had been holding. "Thanks Hagrid, saved me a few detentions just now I reckon," Sirius smiled, pocketing his wand. Hagrid chuckled, "You lot and your mischief. Now hurry along, wouldn' wanna miss the carriages!" Sirius said goodbye to Hagrid, promising to visit soon and pulled Lily away with him.

They fell into stride with one another and had walked a little before Lily spoke up. "Thanks for that. You know, back there." Lily half-heartedly smiled and Sirius turned to her with a very serious look, "You know they're wrong, right Lil? You are far from trash. Hell, you probably could have taken all three of them down without my help."

Lily blushed slightly from the compliment; she was never very good at taking praise. "Well, in any case, thank you. I'm surprised you're alone, shouldn't you be getting up to no good?" Lily nudged him in the ribs lightly. "Ah, if you only knew…you're little prefect head would explode," Sirius said with a wink.

Lily and Sirius had always had an odd sort of relationship with one another. Sirius, being the trouble maker that he was, was always being scolded by Lily for interrupting lessons or meals. Lily, being the competitive person that she was, always subtly pranked him, as well as the other Marauders, back every time she happened to be involved in a Marauder prank. For a while, Sirius had no idea who was pranking him, but Lily slipped up once in fourth year and was caught. Ever since then they had a special sort of bond that only they really understood. They stopped their "prank war" and began to hang out occasionally. They understood each other in a way that their friends didn't understand.

"Good summer?" Sirius asked. Lily shrugged, "You know the deal, Petunia can't stand the sight of me and my parents can't relate to me anymore. This summer they sort of stopped trying. What about you? Any luck with Reg?" Lily knew that his younger brother was a sore topic with him, but this is what their friendship was about, talking about things that the others didn't get.

Sirius shook his head and stepped up to the next carriage and opened the door. Lily walked in with Sirius right behind her. After she had sat down she noticed that the carriage wasn't empty. The rest of the Marauders all stared at Lily, surprised at her choice of carriages. Lily had sat down next to Remus and across from James and Peter. Sirius sat down and obliviously started talking about some "fit young witch he saw on the train."

James didn't appear to be listening; he was staring intently at Lily, who kept touching her arm.

The other boys also seemed more interested in Lily being in their carriage than in Sirius talking about a potential conquest. "Why were you two together?" interrupted Peter, feeling the curiosity in the air.

"We had a run in with good ole' Snivellus is all," Sirius said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Lily saw the others visibly tense up.

"It was no big deal. Sev—I mean Snape, just didn't want to take no for an answer. I really was fine, until Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum showed up that is," Lily said trying to lighten the mood. Seeing the confused looks on James and Sirius' face she continued, "Muggle reference, sorry. Mulciber and Avery were being the dim witted arses that they are and Black stepped in to give me a hand."

James still looked skeptical, "Let me see your arm." Lily quickly pulled her hand away from the probably bruised arm. "Why in Merlin's name would I let you see my arm Potter?" Lily said defensively. She knew the reaction that the boys would have, she may not be especially close with any of them, but they had a track record of getting even when it came to Slytherins, she didn't want that kind of attention.

James pursed his lips and didn't respond. He wanted to argue with her, but he wanted to be friends with Lily, and he knew that arguing wouldn't help him out in that department. He glanced at Sirius and Remus and they both shrugged.

The rest of the ride was uncomfortable to say the least and as soon as they arrived at the castle, Lily practically jumped out of the carriage in search of her friends. She scanned the crowd and didn't see any of them, so she continued into the Great Hall.

"Hello there pretty lady! How have you been since we last saw one another?" came a happy voice from behind Lily. She smiled and rolled her eyes as she looked over her shoulder.

"Hi Benjy," Lily said to her Hufflepuff friend, "I've been positively radiant since I didn't have to see that horrid face of yours for two whole months," Lily teased. They had been friends since the first Defense Class in first year when he accidentally glued Lily to her desk chair.

"Oh how your words hurt, Red," Benjy said, clutching his heart dramatically. Lily shook her head as they parted ways, Benjy going to sit with the other Hufflepuffs and her to the Gryffindors. She was stopped by various people as she tried to make her way to her friends, who sat at the opposite end of the table. Despite the obvious stigma some of the students placed on being a muggleborn witch, Lily was definitely well liked by almost everyone.

She finally made it down to where her friends were seated and sat down next to Mary and across from Marlene. Alice was a few seats down sitting with Frank and a couple other seventh year Gryffindors. Lily looked around and saw all of the friends reuniting, she could feel the joy all around her and she couldn't help but smile to herself. She was home.

Halfway through the sorting, Lily noticed that the Marauders had seemingly appeared out of nowhere a few seats away from her and her friends. Before she could ponder how they managed to come in without her noticing she noticed the food had appeared. Her growling stomach made her lose her train of thought as she piled her plate high with the delicious assortment of entrées.

"I always forget how much I love the house elves cooking. My mum cant boil water without starting a fire," Mary said through mouthfuls of food.

"Oh I know what you mean, I—"Marlene was interrupted by a resounding _BOOM_ that echoed throughout the Hall.

The chatter that had been occurring between students and the teachers ceased as everyone looked around for the source of the noise. Then another _BOOM _echoed, followed quickly by another. Lily looked around and didn't see anything, but she did notice the Marauders looking rather smug. Lily felt a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. Just as she was about to look away, James turned and met her gaze. She felt her face heat up and looked quickly down at her plate.

"Look!" shouted a girl from the Ravenclaw table. Lily looked to where the girl was pointed and saw a sleek and shiny serpent glittering in the corner of the ceiling and a badger on the other side. She couldn't help but think of how incredibly difficult the charm work to create such detailed creatures was. Lily then heard a bird flapping its wings; she turned and saw the incredible raven in another corner. By this point, everyone was pointing and wildly looking around. The shiny transparent animals seemed to be growing restless, and in the final corner, the one closest to where Lily and her friends were sitting, there was yet another _boom, _one that was much louder than all the others_. _This time the animal was a lion and not just any lion. It was the most majestic looking creature that Lily had ever seen. She could hear the collective gasps from the students around her. It seemed as if each hair on the lion's mane had been individually created and shimmered an astounding gold in the candlelight.

Just as everyone began to admire the beauty of the lion, it let out an enormous roar and began to run towards the center of the Great Hall, the other animals followed this action and it seemed as if they were just going to collide into one another at the center. As the figures got closer to the center, they sped up and finally collided with one another. The collision caused each animal to explode into the houses colors that they each represented, the fireworks went up and exploded above each houses table. All of the students were in awe at the show, even Professor McGonagall had a smile on her face. Just as the fireworks began to settle, Lily noticed that floating above the middle of the Hall, where the animals had collided was the Hogwarts crest, larger than all the animals had been combined. Underneath the crest were there words "Welcome Back" in large cursive script.

Once the crest had faded, the Great Hall erupted into booming applause. The Marauders, being the humble people that they are, all stood on their seats and bowed at the cheering student body. Some of the younger girls even started cat-calling and whistling at the boys. Lily felt her eyes narrow and had an odd feeling in the put of her stomach when James leaned down to kiss a fifth year Hufflepuff on the cheek.

"Jealous much?" said Marlene, noticing where Lily's glare was directed. Lily opened her mouth to retort, but was cut off by Dumbledore silencing the crowd.

"Well, now that our bellies are full and we have been entertained by a rather unorthodox welcome back show, it is time to seek out our beds and get rested up for classes tomorrow!" Dumbledore finished speaking and sat down. The fifth year prefects started rounding up the first years in order to show them to their new living quarters, Lily was glad she didn't have to do that again, for such small people they ask a ton of questions, most of which were asked multiple times.

As Lily, Mary, and Marlene made their way into the Entrance Hall, Alice caught up with them. "That was bloody impressive, wasn't it? Did you see the lion! If it wasn't sort of transparent, I would have thought they conjured a real one!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, I suppose it was a beautiful use of charm work. I'm not even sure that I could have done it," Lily responded, not realizing that the Marauders were right behind her.

"How sweet of you to say dear Lily-kins!" Sirius said grinning widely. Lily turned around as she was walking and rolled her eyes.

On the way up to Gryffindor tower, Lily and her friends continued to talk to the Marauders about their first prank of the term. Throughout the walk, she found that her attention kept winding up on a certain messy haired Marauder. James Potter was usually the King of Cockiness after a successful prank execution, but tonight he seemed to be much more subdued and even sounded modest when complimented by passing students.

"How did you lot even figure out how to do that?" Marlene asked.

"Well, _I _of course came up with the idea of using the house mascots, Peter thought of having them collide to make the crest, Remus used that big old brain of his to figure out what spells we needed to use," Sirius said as he ruffled Remus' hair, "And Jamesie here put it all together and cast most of the spells, you should have seen how amazing he was at casting them all, I couldn't believe it to be honest."

James looked slightly embarrassed at being called out, and his hand immediately went to his hair, ruffling it up even more. "It was a group effort, I didn't really do any more than anyone else."

A few months ago, Lily would have been irritated by the hair-ruffling, but seeing James seem so obviously uncomfortable, it seemed endearing. Alice and Remus noticed Lily staring at James and gave each other a sly smile, they both had spoken about the obvious attraction James and Lily had for one another and knew that it was only a matter of time before they finally realized it themselves.

The group finally made it to the Fat Lady, and James took a deep breath and grabbed Lily's arm lightly, to stop her from walking into the Common Room behind their friends. He wanted to apologize to her and would prefer to not have the other Marauders breathing down his neck while he did it.

Lily was surprised when she felt James grab her arm, and tried to not wince. It was still sore from Severus squeezing so hard at the carriages. James recoiled immediately when he felt her wince. "Sorry, I didn't mean to grab you hard!" he said quickly, mentally punching himself for already mucking everything up. He waited for a scolding, but when he looked at Lily's beautiful green eyes he didn't see anger, only curiousity.

"It's okay, you didn't grab be hard at all. What is it that you wanted?" she asked stepping out of the Portrait Hole so she didn't irritate the Fat Lady by making her stay open for so long.

"Uh…I was sort of…well, I mean-" James stuttered.

"Well get on with it Potter, I'm not getting any younger you know," Lily said, enjoying seeing James lose his arrogant tone that he usually used with her. Seeing him be so nervous around her made her smile inwardly, she liked this side of him.

"Sorry…I just don't want this to come out wrong…can we go for a walk?" he asked and when he saw her suspicious expression added, "No tricks, I promise. I just want to talk to you alone for a moment. It won't take long, I swear."

Against her better judgment, Lily nodded and started walking down the corridor, James in tow. They walked for a few minutes in silence. Lily had expected to feel uncomfortable being alone with James, but she realized that it was anything but uncomfortable. They passed a few other wandering groups of students, most of who stopped to say hi to Lily or to ask how her summer was. James had always known that Lily was well liked, but he had never noticed how special she seemed to make everyone feel. They just seemed happier after she conversed with them and gave them a gorgeous smile that he had never been at the receiving end of. Not that he blamed her. He somehow always ended up being a complete tosser around her and their interactions usually ended unpleasantly to say the least.

After they rounded a corner, Lily stepped into an empty classroom, pulling James in behind her and shutting the door. "Sorry, I figured if you're ever going to tell me what it is you wanted to talk about it would be best to not be interrupted by students every five seconds."

James had totally forgotten that he was the one that initiated the walk between them. He had been too focused on seeing Lily react to people that weren't considered "arrogant, bullying toe-rags" in her mind.

"Right, well, I guess I just wanted to say…erm, I mean I'm sorry?" he finally managed to sputter out. He didn't know what was wrong with him, he never got this tongue tied around Lily usually. But usually he wasn't trying to be just her friend either.

Lily furrowed her brow and stared at him, "Are you asking me or telling me?"

James was taken aback by this comment and said, "Telling you of course, why would I be asking you if I'm sorry?" She shrugged and walked over to a desk and sat on it. "I don't know Potter, that's why I was asked."

After Lily hopped up onto the desk, she straightened her skirt and crossed her legs. She then leaned back with her palms against the desk. James stared at Lily, sitting up on the desk, he couldn't think straight with her looking so bloody seductive. He knew she was simply sitting comfortably, but that didn't stop his mind from wandering. After a minute he noticed Lily staring expectantly at him. Clearing his mind of all the dirty thoughts racing through it he began to speak.

"I just wanted to apologize to you. For everything. You know, after the Defense O.W.L. last year. I was being a prick and I'm sorry that I was so infuriating," he had been looking at the ground and when he looked up he saw her cock her head to side, as if trying to figure out if he was up to something. "Although, if I'm telling the truth right now, I'll happily admit that I'm not sorry that it made you see what an arse Sniv—I mean Snape, really is."

Lily let herself let out a small laugh. She still wasn't sure what Potter was up to but he seemed to be being sincere. Hopping down from her seat on the desk she stood in directly in front of him. Although she was many inches shorter than he, she looked as if she was sizing him up. Without breaking eye contact she stuck out her hand. "Friends?"

James tore his eyes away from hers and stared at the hand outstretched in front of him, not sure of what to do. He knew that apologizing was in his best interest if he wanted to get within a hundred feet of Lily without being threatened, but he didn't realize friendship would be so easy to obtain.

"Well? Don't just stand there Potter," Lily said looking from her hand up to him.

"James," he said simply. She cocked her eyebrow at him.

"Huh?"

"My name. It's James. Not Potter. If we're going to be friends, don't you think that we should address one another as such, _Lily_?" he said as his face formed a grin.

Lily laughed and James shook her hand, not failing to notice how soft her skin was compared to his calloused hands. She withdrew her hand and walked towards the door. "Don't make me regret this, _James," _she said as she opened the door and walked out.

James stood rooted in his spot, staring at the space that Lily had been standing before she left. He couldn't believe that that had actually just happened to him. As much as he denied it to his friends, there was definitely something about Lily Evans that intrigued him.

**A/N: **ahhh, I finished my first chapter! Yay! I haven't written in a while, so please be easy on me. Although I definitely welcome constructive criticism. Also, on my word document this is a little less than 20 pages. Is that too long? Too short? Good length? I know when I read stories I enjoy the longer chapters, but I'm weird. So please review and let me know!


	2. Chapter Two

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognize belongs to JKR, not me.**

**A/N: **I'm having a lot of trouble with formatting. How do you get paragraph indentions to show up and how do you get your lines/paragraphs to space out more? I can't seem to get it right now matter how many times I edit and upload the document.

When Lily agreed to be friends with James Potter three weeks ago, she didn't realize how difficult that proved to be. When she saw how different he acted that first night back, how nervous and sincere, she thought that maybe he had changed. She was wrong.

"I swear every time I turn a corner I see him picking on someone! Honestly, hasn't he got anything better to do?" Lily said exasperatedly. She and Alice were heading down to the dungeons for their Double Potions class and Lily had just caught James dangling a first year Slytherin in mid-air while Sirius turned his hair red and gold. He claimed to have been defending some unseen first year Ravenclaw, but Lily wasn't buying it.

"He has gotten a little better you know. You just refuse to acknowledge anything good about him. Remus told me that James has actually been turning down prank ideas lately," Alice said matter of factly, "Just give him a bit more time before you jump to conclusions. He might surprise you."

The girls finally made it down to the dungeons and made their way into the classroom. Lily noticed that Severus was already there, scribbling furiously into the margins of his copy of _Advanced Potion Making_. The Gryffindors always had Double Potions with the Slytherins and usually Lily partnered up with Snape; but that was before. Plucking up all her Gryffindor courage, she walked straight past Severus, and sat in the seat behind Alice. She knew it was a small feat, but being able to even subtly stand up to her former best friend was a big deal to her.

She pulled out her books and began to set up her cauldron and supplies as the other students filed in. Marlene was one of the last to come into the classroom and of course she was with the Marauders. Well, the Marauders minus Peter. He and Mary didn't get high enough O.W.L.s to continue taking Potions so they decided to take Arithmancy together.

Marlene took her usual seat next to Alice, which only left three open seats; one of which was next to Lily. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed James' line of sight lock onto the empty chair to her. She weighed her options; she knew that they were trying to be friends so telling him to shove off probably wouldn't help, but she also didn't think she was ready to have to sit next to him for a full class period just yet. She needed to take baby steps, so she said the first thing that popped into her mind as he reached the empty chair, "Sorry, seats taken." She hoped that James wouldn't make this difficult.

"Uh, Lily, in case you haven't noticed, everyone is already here. That is, unless you have some sort of invisible Potions partner, and if that's the case then we have a whole new set of problems to deal with, love," James said pulling the seat out and making to sit down.

Lily tried to protest, but couldn't seem to make her mouth form the words. "Actually Prongs, Lily was saving the seat for me. We have some Prefect things to discuss," Remus interjected. James looked from his friend to Lily and back again before taking a step back and sitting next to Sirius instead, looking very unhappy.

"Thanks for that," Lily said turning to look at Remus, "You didn't have to lie for me you know, I could have thought of something"

"Well it wasn't completely a lie," Remus said. Lily looked at Remus quizzically. "Seeing as you've been dodging our dear Amelia the past few weeks, she has given me the responsibility of tracking you down to let you know when our rounds are."

Feeling slightly embarrassed about being caught avoiding the Head Girl, Lily gave Remus a meek smile. "Well my mother always told me that if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all. So I chose to not say anything at all. Well, I guess I chose to not see _or_ say anything at all. You get my point though."

Remus chuckled and shook his head. "In any case, we have patrols the next two Tuesdays and Thursdays. Although I put in a request to swap next Thursday for Sunday," Remus then added, "I have to visit my mother again, are you alright with switching nights?" Lily muttered her indifference as Professor Slughorn entered the classroom. Lily knew that the full moon was the real reason Remus needed to switch, but she knew better than to voice those thoughts. He would tell her in his own time.

"Attention! Attention, class! Today we will be working with a very dangerous and complicated potion, so I expect nothing but the utmost diligence from all of you!" he stepped over to a large cauldron that was covered and lifted the top, "Amortentia, it is the most powerful love potion of all. It, of course, cannot replicate real love, just strong infatuation. Everybody smells something different, something that shows your hearts true desires, even if one is not consciously aware of said desires—"Professor Slughorn stopped talking as he noticed the dazed look on the faces of the students in the front row. Quickly, the professor covered the potion. "Well, the instructions," he flicked his wand at the blackboard behind him, "are on page 297 of your text, you all may begin. Do not forget to take a sample of your completed potion and put it in a vial for grading. Good luck!"

The sound of students rustling through bags and flipping through pages filled the room as everyone prepared to make the potion. Lily read through her ingredient list and went to the cupboards to gather some things that she didn't have.

"So, did you and Remus discuss your oh so _very_ important Prefect duties?" James said from behind her. Lily grabbed the items she needed, took a deep breath, and turned around to face him.

"Not that it is any of your business, Po—James, but yes, we did."

"Well isn't that just peachy," James said stepping towards Lily. He leaned over her to grab a few herbs that were on the cupboard shelf, brushing his arm against her shoulder.

Lily shuddered at the contact and quickly ducked around him in order to get back to her seat. As she made her way back to her table she mentally scolded herself. It was just Potter, why does he always make her so jittery?

James also noticed her odd reaction to his touch. He frowned at her back as she walked towards her table with the traitor, formerly known as Remus Lupin. James went back to his table with the needed potion ingredients and tossed them in. Potions had never been his best subject and he didn't care. He used to try so that maybe he could understand why Lily seemed to love it so, but it never clicked for him.

"Oi, Prongs, how about some fun, eh?" Sirius said gesturing towards Snape with his wand. James mouth broke into a grin.

Just as he was about to pull his wand out, Slughorn walked up. "Behaving yourselves boys?"

"Why of course Professor," Sirius said innocently. Slughorn looked unconvinced. He leaned over the boys cauldrons, both of which were very pink in color instead of the mother-of-pearl shade that it is supposed to be.

"Well, I suppose not everyone is a potion connoisseur. No matter! By the way, how are your parents doing Mr. Potter?" the professor asked.

"Very well, they're still working at the Ministry. I'll send them your regards, sir," James said automatically. Slughorn has said the same thing every class for the past five years so James had a response memorized in order to cut the conversation time down.

"Good, good, keep up the good work boys! Ah…Ms. Evans, what do we have here?" Slughorn said moving towards her table, "Perfect, as usual no doubt! I have to say I do think you would have done well in Slytherin house with all this talent!"

Lily snorted, "I'm afraid that I'm not overly fond of snakes." She said nonchalantly. "Or pure-blood mania come to think of it," she added cheekily. Slughorn laughed heartily, as if Lily didn't just insult his entire House.

"My dear girl, you sure have a way with words. Let's take a look at your potion, shall we? Should be almost completed correct?" Slughorn took a look into Lily's cauldron, "Perfect! The color is impeccable, the texture is exact, and the steam is even swirling into hearts! You have truly outdone yourself Ms. Evans!" Lily felt her cheeks heat up from the praise. "I must say, I was rather disappointed to see that you changed Potions partners this term. I enjoyed having my two best pupils working together!"

Snape looked up from his completed potion to see Lily's reaction. He was disappointed to see that her face was set into a grimace. He didn't understand why she was being so resistant, they were clearly meant to be. All of the signs pointed to it. So what if he slipped up and called her a—that name—it was just an accident. If only she could see all that he was doing for her.

"Now that you are all finished up, it's time to test out the potions!" Slughorn said clapping his hands merrily.

Maggie Parkinson, from Slytherin, raised her hand and said, "We aren't going to be actually tasting the potion, are we Professor?"

"Merlin no, my dear! We are just going to smell the potions to determine their potency. If you don't smell anything discernable, well, then your potion is far from correct, if you only smell one scent then it's slightly better and so on. A perfect potion can have anywhere from three to five distinguishable smells. I expect most of you will only be able to smell two scents," Slughorn explained, "I'll be coming around and you'll smell your potion and let me know what scents you have. I'll also be double checking by smelling them myself when I grade your vials that you will turn in momentarily, so don't think about lying!"

Slughorn began at the opposite end of the room from Lily and her friends. Since she was finished with her potion she moved to Alice and Marlene's table to talk while she was waiting for her turn.

"Um, Marlene, why is your potion that color?" Lily asked eyeing the dark, bubbling concoction in Marlene's cauldron.

"I have no idea. I swear I followed the instructions in the book," Marlene said pointing to her open textbook. Lily furrowed her brow and looked at her friend's textbook, she immediately saw the problem.

"Marls…this is the wrong page. Amortentia is page 297, not 207. This is supposed to be the Draught of Living Death…no wonder it turned out so horribly. That's an extremely complicated potion. I don't even know if I could make it."

"I'm sure you could make anything my dear Lily flower," said James from behind her. He walked around the girls and stood in front of Marlene's failed potion. Lily wasn't sure if James was being sincere or sarcastic, so she just eyed him warily.

"Well, I for one cannot stand Potions. Remind me why I chose to take this class?" Marlene said to the group.

"You wanted to be a Healer, remember?" Alice said smiling. Marlene changed her career path on an almost daily basis, the girls usually steered clear of talking about after Hogwarts for fear of making Marlene change her mind yet again.

"Oh well, I've changed my mind. I think I'll just stick to Quidditch. You don't need to know how to brew bloody love potions for that," Marlene said grumpily.

Eventually, Slughorn made his way to Marlene's table, so James and Lily went back to their respective tables to wait their turn. Unsurprisingly, Marlene did not smell anything in her potion. Alice on the other hand, smelled three scents, one of which Lily was certain sounded an awful lot like the cologne that Frank Longbottom wears. Remus was up next and smelled chocolate, old books, and woods. Lily had never thought Remus to be the outdoorsy type, she wondered if it had anything to do with his lycanthropy. But why would that be in his Amortentia?

Before she knew it, it was her turn to test out her potion. She felt as though all eyes were on her. Marlene and Alice had both turned around in their seats, James was all but breathing down her neck; even Remus and Sirius were listening. She chanced a look at the desks on the other side of the room and even saw Severus trying to discreetly eavesdrop. She was beginning to get nervous, what if she smelled something embarrassing?

She leaned over her potion and took a deep breath in through her nose. The effects were immediate; her mind felt light and fuzzy, she could barely hold a coherent thought. Her senses felt as if they were being overloaded with pleasure. "I smell books…definitely the smell of crisp, new pages, that have yet to be read," she breathed in the comforting smell and turned her focus onto another, "I also smell butterbeer and freshly baked cookies." Lily savored the smell in her nostrils, butterbeer always comforted her in the wizarding world, but her mother and father always made chocolate chip cookies together when she was a child, she loved to watch them joke and play. It reminded her of what she loved about being a Muggle, all the simple things that she didn't get to be a part of anymore.

"Wonderful! Anything else, Miss Evans?" Professor Slughorn asked hopefully. Lily's potion was by far the best and he seemed to be glowing with pride.

She took one last sniff of her potion and froze. She knew that smell anywhere. It was a hard smell to describe; it made her think of flying in the wind during a clear, starry night. The fresh, outdoor smell was prevalent, with hints of something distinctly masculine, a sort of musk that was specific to only one person.

"I…uh…smell wind, sir. That's all," Lily said quickly pulling herself away from the mind-numbing potion. She sat down hastily and stared down at her lap, her mind racing.

Professor Slughorn did not seem to notice any change in Lily's behavior, but Marlene and Alice definitely did. The professor moved on to the next table over and continued the process with the other students. Lily was so engrossed in trying to process what had just happened she didn't even hear Remus talking to her.

"Lily? Hello? Earth to Lily?"

Her head snapped up, "Huh? What? Sorry Remus, I didn't catch what you said."

"I just asked if you wanted me to take your vial up to Slughorn's desk," he said looking at the small vial sitting next to her cauldron. Lily handed him the vial and went back to her thoughts; that is until Professor Slughorn made it to the table behind her.

"Well, I smell the oak my broomstick is made out of…uh, I also smell cranberries and vanilla. I think that's all. I can't really make out anything else, sir," James Potter mumbled, seeming to be embarrassed by his second scent.

"How odd…I can't say that I've ever had two students have such a specific scent in common, how curious," Slughorn said as he moved on to the last couple tables.

James frowned when Slughorn said this and looked around the room. He searched for someone that he thought might have the same scents as he did but no one jumped out at him. That is until his gaze rested upon Severus Snape. Of course, James knew exactly which of his scents Slughorn was talking about now, the one that was Lily's hair. James followed Snape's gaze to Lily, Lily was quietly cleaning up her desk, preparing to leave and seemingly had no idea she was being stared at.

Sirius, who had noticed James' angry glare, grinned. "Want to have a little fun Prongs?"

James had been trying to tone down his pranking and mischief making for the sake of his friendship with Lily, but his temper was beginning to flare out of control. How dare Snape claim to love someone that he insulted and treated like hippogriff dung? Before he knew what he was doing, his wand was out and pointed at Snape.

James muttered a string of curses and spells towards his nemesis. He managed to vanish Snape's hair and transfigure his robes into a rather embarrassingly short night gown before other students started to take notice. Snape quickly drew his wand and the two started firing spells back and forth. James managed to dodge most of Snape's curses due to Snape's limited range of motion for fear of revealing too much in his new attire.

Just as James hit Snape with a bat-bogey hex and a leg locker curse, Professor Slughorn intervened.

"Wands down this instant! Detention Mr. Potter! Detention Mr. Snape! I cannot believe someone of my own house would be involved in such tom-foolery! Class dismissed! Potter, Snape, follow me!" Slughorn shouted, red faced. He stomped back to his office, the two boys following, neither dropping their heated glares from one another.

Lily was furious. This was the last straw; she had been trying to give James the benefit of the doubt in the beginning, but he simply cannot go more than two days without causing mayhem. As mad as she was, she couldn't help but feel disappointed in him. She had really hoped that he would be the bigger man when it came to Snape. She expected this petty behavior from Sev, but she knew in her heart that James was better than that.

She grabbed her school bag and stomped out of the room, Marlene and Alice still trying to gather their things. Once out of the dungeons, Lily practically ran to the Entrance Hall and onto the grounds. She needed time to think; her mind was racing with the events of today's Potions class and she needed to wind down.

She had an odd habit of always going to very high places when she needed to think, whether it be the top of a tree, the Astronomy Tower, or the Quidditch Pitch, she liked being up in the air, away from the commotion of the people on the ground. The weather today was perfect for the Pitch.

She made her way to the highest stand and the uppermost bench and laid down on it, staring up at the peaceful, fluffy clouds above her. She knew that her friends would be looking for her, but she would catch up with them at dinner and hopefully she could avoid any run-ins with Sev or Potter.

"For someone so small she sure does move fast," Sirius remarked, looking around for his red-headed friend.

"She's probably on the grounds somewhere, especially after a class like that. I mean did you see her face when she figured out what her last scent was?" Marlene said, "She looked like she was going to pass out!"

"I wonder what she smelled. It couldn't have been that bad if it's something that she loves," Alice said thoughtfully.

"Well, like the professor said, sometimes you smell things that reflect feelings you aren't consciously aware of," Remus pointed out. "My guess is that she smelled a guy, and seeing as she doesn't have a current boyfriend, it probably wasn't what she was expecting."

"Of course Remus has a logical explanation," Sirius said rolling his eyes. The group made their way up to the seventh floor, and finally made it to the portrait of the Fat Lady. Well, they made it to where the Fat Lady should have been.

"Damn, I hate it when this happens. Whoever's bright idea it was to make portraits able to leave theirs was a fool," Marlene complained. She sat down next to the painting with a resigned huff. Alice followed gracefully and pulled out a quill and parchment to start on her homework.

"This has happened to you before, I presume?" Remus said, joining the girls on the floor.

"Every so often the Fat Lady likes to go and visit her friends around the castle. It's bloody irritating. We just have to wait for someone to come out or for her to come back. It doesn't usually take too long," Alice replied, not looking up from her essay.

They waited and waited and the Fat Lady still hadn't returned. Alice had finished her essay long ago and was now absentmindedly braiding Marlene's gold locks. Marlene was entertaining herself by making colored puffs of smoke shaped like various animals come out of her wand. The boys had long since gone to search for the Fat Lady and returned, not being able to find her.

"Well, no luck in locating our large woman. You would think that someone called the "fat lady" would be easier to spot," Sirius joked as he sat down next to Marlene. "So, Marls, how about you accompany me to Hogsmeade next weekend?"

Marlene's wand suddenly stopped spouting out colorful creatures and she turned to face Sirius. She stared at him for a minute or so, as if studying him. "That's the best you can do?"

Sirius shrugged and said, "Is that a yes or a no?"

"Eh, sure. As long as no one more interesting asks in the meantime that is," she said nonchalantly going back to what she was doing before.

"Well, then you better be prepared to spend the day with me, because there is no one more interesting than Sirius Black, my dear," Sirius boasted, nudging Marlene in the ribs. Remus laughed at his conceited friend and looked down the corridor to see the other two Marauders making their way over to the common room entrance.

"What are you lot doing out here?" James questioned as he and Peter walked up to his friends. "Where's the Fat Lady?"

"Would we be sitting out here like a bunch of idiots if we knew where she is?" Sirius responded irritably. James put his hands up in surrender and sat down next to them.

"Have you all been out here since class ended?" James asked amused, they all nodded. "And not a single person has come out of the common room since?" He began to laugh, but was silenced when all four of his friends glared daggers at him.

"You know, there's an easy solution to this. Just yell," Peter said, grinning.

"Yell?" Alice questioned.

"Yeah, yelling. You know that thing you do when your voice gets louder?" James teased.

"We know bloody well what yelling is Potter, what we don't know is how it would help us," Marlene said as she got off of the ground.

"If we yell then someone in the common room is bound to hear us. I'd also bet all the galleons in the world that Frank Longbottom and Sam Wood are both in the common room right now and would be able to open the portrait for us," James said, discreetly smirking at Sirius and Remus. He and Peter had been looking at the Marauder's Map and knew exactly who was in the common room.

"How do you know that it would be them opening the door?" Alice asked, eyeing James.

James shrugged, "Just a hunch. Now, hop to it, I for one would like to change before dinner."

The group began to yell at the closed portrait hole. Sirius even began banging on the empty painting. After a few seconds, the portrait began to move. They all stepped back and saw a very confused Frank standing in front of them.

"Why in Merlin's name are you all screaming like banshees out here?"

Without pausing to explain, the six students scrambled into the portrait hole and up to their dorms, leaving Frank even more confused.

A little while later, Alice and Marlene came back down to the common room and explained their situation to Frank, who couldn't believe that they didn't think to yell for help.

"Well, excuse me for not being a noisy and rude person! I honestly didn't think that the Fat Lady would take so long to come back!" Alice exclaimed defensively. Frank laughed and put his arm around his girlfriend, pulling her closer. Alice pretended to resist, but eventually gave in and kissed Frank sweetly on the cheek.

"You two are nauseating," Marlene said scrunching up her nose. "I'm going to dinner."

Lily had no idea how long she had been laying on the stands, but judging by her growling stomach, it must be close to dinner time. Collecting her things and standing up, Lily began the trek to the Great Hall. She still had no idea what to make of her Amortentia, but decided that dwelling on it would only drive her insane. Well, more insane.

She arrived to dinner a little early, hoping to have a few more moments alone before being bombarded with questions from her friends, but it seems that fate had other plans.

"Where have you been? We were starting to get worried!" Marlene scolded her friend. Lily looked pleadingly at Alice, hoping that she would make Marlene stop.

"Oh no, don't you look at me! I'm a bit peeved at you as well. You smell Amortentia and then practically bolt from the classroom and then you aren't seen for hours? I'm on Marlene's side on this one," Alice said calmly. Lily pouted, she hated being ganged up on.

For the next ten minutes, Lily picked at her food while being lectured by Marlene, who definitely knew how to hit where it hurt. In the beginning, Lily tried to defend herself, but soon realized that her efforts were futile.

Lily noticed that the Marauders hadn't arrived yet; she wondered what they were up to. They were almost never late for a meal. She looked towards the entrance doors and saw Benjy wave at her as he walked in. She smiled and waved back happily, much to Marlene's dismay.

"Stop looking so happy! I'm trying to lecture you! Are you even listening?!" Marlene huffed. She glared at Benjy as he sat down across from her, right next to Lily.

"Hey Alice, hey Marlene; mind if I steal Lily away for a moment?" Benjy asked politely. Marlene scowled.

"Why? What do you want with her? Why can't you just talk to her here? We were kind of in the middle of something," Marlene growled, staring Benjy down. Benjy looked tentatively at Lily, who simply shrugged and went to stand up.

"Well I would hate to interrupt," Marlene scoffed, but Benjy continued, "I was just wondering if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me next week? You know, just as friends, so we can catch up and stuff?" Benjy asked nervously. Lily was taken aback; she was definitely not expecting Benjy to ask her out.

"Oh…uh…okay, sure. Sounds great," Lily said smiling. Benjy's grin widened.

"Brilliant! Well, I'll talk to you girls later! See you later, Lily," Benjy said as he bounced up from his seat next to his new Hogsmeade date. Lily watched him walk back to his friends at the Hufflepuff table and then turned around and saw two very expectant faces.

"What?" Lily said confused.

"Don't you what me. What was that? You and Benjy Fenwick? Since when?" Marlene said.

"We're just going as friends, it doesn't mean anything," Lily replied, wishing she had stayed on the Quidditch Pitch.

"Are you mental? No one goes to Hogsmeade as "just friends" as he so quaintly put it," Marlene said cynically.

Alice tutted. "Well, Marls, if I recall correctly, you yourself have a "just friends" date to Hogsmeade."

"That is so not the point! Black isn't Fenwick. Black hasn't been pining over me for the past three years!" Marlene shouted.

"Aw, poppet, I thought you knew about my undying love for you!" said Sirius Black dramatically from behind Marlene and Alice. Lily hadn't even noticed him and the Marauders arrive. They all sat down next to the girls and began piling food on their plates.

"So, what does me not pining after the lovely Miss McKinnon have to do with anything?" Sirius said through a mouthful of food. The girls grimaced.

"Lily seems to be under the impression that a certain Hufflepuff really only wants to take her to Hogsmeade as "just friends"," Marlene said disbelievingly.

James practically choked on his food as she said this; he gulped at his drink trying to clear his windpipe. "You're going to Hogsmeade with Fenwick?" James cried out accusingly.

"Yes. Is there something wrong with that, _James_," Lily said, purposely enunciating his name, as if trying to remind him that they are friends and friends don't get jealous.

"Yes there bloody well is—"James began before Sirius swiftly kicked his best friend from under the table and shook his head subtly at him. "I mean, no, nothing wrong. I hope you have a lovely time," he finished through gritted teeth.

The rest of the meal went by relatively normal, although everyone avoided the topic of Hogsmeade and Hufflepuffs for James' sake. The girls finished eating and bade the boys goodnight and they headed up to their dormitory.

James watch Lily walk away, unaware that his friends were all staring at him stare at her. "Oh for the love of Merlin Prongs, why don't you quit your pouting and just go ask her out," Sirius said exasperatedly.

"I've already told you before, we're just friends. I'm not interested in Evans' like that," James said, still staring at where Lily was before she left the hall.

"If you don't fancy Evans then why did you ask her out last term? Hmm? Thought I forgot didn't you Prongsie," Sirius teased. James glared at his friend; he knew that Sirius was talking about after the Defense O.W.L., when Lily had publicly berated and humiliated him.

"I've had enough rejection for one lifetime, thanks," James said, hoping they would change the subject off of him.

"Enough girly talk. We still need to finalize our plans for Moony's next "furry little problem"," Peter pointed out. James gave Peter a grateful smile, who in turn, shrugged his shoulders.

"Right you are Wormtail!" Sirius said standing up. "Well come on! This adventure isn't going to plan itself you know!

"Okay, spill," Marlene said plopping down onto the end of Lily's four-poster bed. Lily groaned, she had hoped that she would be able to get a peaceful night of sleep. As she sat up, both Alice and Mary joined Marlene on her bed.

"You haven't started without us have you?" Mary exclaimed. She had missed most of the events of the day, and was curious to hear all about it.

Lily sighed, she knew it was easier to give in than to resist. So she started from the beginning; Potions class. When she got to the part about her final scent she faltered.

"Well don't stop now! What did you smell?" Alice pressed.

Lily knew that the girls would freak out if she told them the truth, but she didn't want to lie to them. Conflicted, she took the safe approach. "Well…I sort of lied about the wind, although that was part of it…the rest of the smell was most definitely a guy."

All three girls shrieked with excitement. "Do you know who it was?" Mary asked excitedly. Lily nodded her head.

"It was James wasn't it?" Alice said hopefully. Lily opened her mouth, but Marlene cut her off

"Oh don't be daft Alice; Lily would never fancy James that much! I bet it was Benjy, right?"

Lily was torn, she knew lying to her friends was wrong, but she felt that the knowledge of who she smelled in the potion was very personal. She hadn't even really figured out what that means for her yet, and until then she knew she wanted to keep it a secret.

"Uh..yeah, it was Benjy," Lily lied. Alice looked unconvinced, but both Mary and Marlene jumped with excitement. Finally getting what they wanted out of her, the other girls left Lily's bed for their own, except Alice.

"Lily…I know we've only just become close, but I hope you know that I'll support you with whatever it is that you're feeling, and I happen to know that those feelings don't involve Benjy Fenwick," Alice began, Lily tried to protest but Alice silenced her, "Don't worry about it, I won't tell the others. I just wanted you to know that I'm here for you."

Lily smiled gratefully at her friend and said her goodnights to the other roommates. As Lily pulled her curtains shut around her bed, she couldn't help but let her mind wander to the scent of a certain raven haired Quidditch player…

**A/N:** let me know what you think! I think some people might be a tad confused about James. But in my mind, it goes like this: he loves Lily, but after being so publicly turned down his ego won't allow him to admit that it actually bothered him and that he actually does want to go out with her, so he tries to play it off (not very well) as though it doesn't bother him that she doesn't like him (or so he thinks)


End file.
